Understanding the Mass

The Mass, or celebration of the Eucharist, is the principal liturgical action in the Roman Catholic Church. It is the central action and aspect of our lives and the primary way Catholics worship God as a community.

The word "liturgy" means work of the people. Our life of worship, prayer, blessing, and celebration includes many different liturgies - but one in particular is especially important because it brings together the whole community for a participation in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “Mass” comes from the Latin word missa, meaning “mission” or “sending." At Mass, the faithful receive what they need for themselves and also what they need in order to help bring the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus and His sacramental presence into the world. In the Mass, every form of prayer is employed: blessing, praise and thanksgiving, contrition for sin, petition, meditation, contemplation... The word “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving” and calls to mind some very important truths taught in the New Testament:  God gives Himself completely to us so that we might be whole in our humanity and share in Christ's divinity, that we might have the fullness of life in us. The Mass fulfills the words of Psalm 116: united to Christ in his offering of himself for us, we likewise offer ourselves to God and go forth into the world to do Christ's work.

Catholics gather for Mass on Sundays, Holy Days, and optionally on other days in order to honor and praise God and unite in prayer with fellow believers in Christ. The celebration of Mass is the foundation for the universal Church and for the individual believer. Participation in the gift of the Eucharist feeds, transforms, and heals us. We are empowered to go forth and continue the saving ministry of Jesus in our daily lives. We are centered on God and on the mystery of God’s love for us through the redemptive sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

In celebrating the Mass, we commemorate what Christ did at the Last Supper and we do as the first Christians did after Jesus' earthly ministry. We witness our belief that Christ lives on not just in heaven but on earth as well through our worship and our lives. As we read in the Letter to the Hebrews, we are not to neglect our assemblies without a serious reason. The Mass requires true participation of all believers together. It is not the priest “performing” for the people, but it is the whole community of faith, made one in Christ, giving to God and receiving from God together.

There are two major parts of the Mass: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. In the Liturgy of the Word, selections from the Scriptures are proclaimed. After the proclamation of the Gospel, a member of the clergy preaches a homily, which is a type of sermon that applies the readings from Scripture to the lives of the faithful. The Liturgy of the Word concludes with the Universal Prayer, or Prayer of the Faithful, which addresses the various needs and petitions of the community, the Church, and the world to God.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist forms the second major part of the Mass. It begins with preparing the altar and culminates with the Eucharistic Prayer. During this prayer, the priest invokes the action of the Holy Spirit (epiclesis) to change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ (transubstantiation). After the different parts of the Eucharistic Prayer and Communion Rite are concluded, the faithful are invited to receive Holy Communion. After some final prayers, blessings, and any concluding remarks or announcements the presider wishes to share, the Mass is ended, calling to mind Jesus' declaration from the cross: "It is finished." The assembly of believers sings together, then goes forth into the world to live joyfully as God's people, serve those in need, and share our faith in many ways.
 

More material is planned for this section in the near future!